1 December: Let's begin the season with the Carpenters. (Always a good choice, I think.) And this one is especially fitting because we had our first snowfall of the winter today of all days! Let it snow!
2 December: Today we're going to see our friend Claire dance the part of Clara in the Nutcracker in Ogden! I picked today's song, Dance of the Mirlitons, in honor of that.
3 December: I have always loved Do You Hear What I Hear? I feel like we sang it in our elementary school caroling, but maybe not? Anyway, it's a favorite for sure. Today since it's Sunday, we'll hear a Tabernacle Choir version. But when I was searching for this newish arrangement that is so lovely, I found this gem from a time machine! So you have two to listen to today. Winning!
4 December: Speaking of time machines . . . how about dialing it back to 1998 *NSYNC? This takes me back to middle school, and while I fully acknowledge it's not super high quality as far as Christmas music goes, it is nostalgic, and isn't that what Christmas music is all about?
5 December: Today's song is one of my all-time faves: Go Tell it On the Mountain. Last year I heard this version on some playlist on Spotify and immediately made a note of it to remember for this year. So peppy and fun!
6 December: Tonight is the night when Callie's Valley Choir sings a fun medley of Christmas songs (complete with solos and speaking parts and choreography) at the Christmas Village in Ogden. In honor of her performance, Cal picked today's song, which is one of of the many that will be performed in their show.
7 December: Whoops! I (almost totally) forgot to post my song for the day. (I actually remembered in the evening during the bedtime routine for the kids, but then once they were tucked in and I was back in the living room with my computer, I spaced again. I actually forgot lots of daily things yesterday - I didn't read either of my advent readings, too! Sheesh!) Anyway, I'm back to make up for it. I did not grow up on Alan Jackson, but somehow I know this song? (Maybe it's just super repetitive and easy to memorize?) Anyway, it's a cute tune and I like the message.
8 December: I have always loved Good King Wenceslas the song, and after learning more about Good King Wenceslas the man last year in our Christmas school, I am a big fan of him, too. I'm also a big fan of Piano Guys. So it just seems natural to combine those two loves in their version of this song.
9 December: Perry Como + classic Christmas song = a match made in heaven.
10 December: Here's a pretty new rendition of Here We Come A-Caroling from the Tabernacle Choir, which I heard last year in one of their Music and the Spoken Word episodes. I love the syncopation!
11 December: Ah, one of my favorite Christmas voices: James Taylor. I'm headed out soon to go walking in a winter wonderland (especially beautiful with the sky blue and the sun shining today.
12 December: We watched this video of Brian Stokes Mitchell singing The Friendly Beasts last week for school as we looked at Tomie dePaola's illustrations for it. Sam loved it and asked to have it as his pick for my countdown. I love it, too; I think it's the absolute best rendition of the song that I have ever heard! I actually included it way back in the very first countdown I ever did 13 years ago! I think it's been enough time that I can repeat it. ;) It's fun to share the song that was a Thornley tradition at our nativity nights when I was growing up with my kids now, and watch them love it just like I did.
13 December: This song wins the award of being stuck in my head most often this month. It is not a new song (recorded in 1958!!) but it is new to me, thanks to that Amazon commercial with the llama. And now I seem to hear it everywhere (like while trying on clothes with the kids at DI!). I think it's cute and catchy, and I actually am not mad about it playing in my mind all the time. It's not often I hear a new-to-me Christmas song. Have you heard this one before?
14 December: I love Steve and Eydie and I love Sleigh Ride, so of course their version is fun and peppy and merry and bright. We enjoyed learning about Sleigh Ride this week in Christmas School, and we came across this fun interview with composer Leroy Anderson on youtube. And just now I found this one on how the lyrics came to be written a few years later. And if those whet your appetite, I found a transcript of the whole interview here!
15 December: It's Friday! At our house that means Pizza and a Movie tonight. I hope that whoever gets to pick the movie tonight chooses Home Alone. I think this is the year to introduce it to the kids. How about some Eagles while we wait for dinnertime? (Yes, it's not the version that appears on the movie, but I think it's my favorite.)
16 December: Today's pick is fitting since Sam is missing his two front teeth, too. I haven't included this song in my countdown since 2012 when my oldest nephew Kage was missing his two front teeth. (He's 18 now!)
17 December: The primary kids sang The Nativity Song in church today and it was lovely. We've been practicing it in primary singing time for a long time, and it's got lots of verses and lots of words, so it was fun to hear them do such a good job today. Here's a version I found from early covid days. They're pretty cute (though not as cute as our primary kids ;) I always loved this song when I was little, so I was glad that our primary had a chance to learn it, too.
18 December: Today's song comes from Heatha - earlier this month she sent me this song and asked if I remembered it. Do I ever?! We didn't own it, but definitely was a common song on the radio of our childhood. Wow. Brings me back!
19 December: I really love The First Noel, and I really love The Lower Lights (fun fact: I have included a song by them every single year since I heard about them in 2012!). I especially love their rendition because of the female vocalist's harmonies. They're so sweet and different and I love them!
20 December: Callie really loves Pachelbel's Canon in D, so when I heard Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Canon on a spotify playlist (thanks, Heather, for that sharing that one - it really is the best!), I knew that I had to include it on my countdown this year. Kinda crazy that I've only ever featured Trans-Siberian Orchestra once in all my years! Can you guess which song it was?
21 December: We've been learning We Three Kings this week in Christmas School so I really wanted to include it in my countdown. There's a classical guitar version that I heard on a church music stream last year and really, really loved, but I can't find it on youtube. (Hopefully it will come soon and I can include it next time!) So for today, I chose the Mitch Miller and the Gang version from our Reader's Digest records. I love this one, too, and I really love listening to/singing all the verses. It tells the whole story of Christ's life, which I never really paid attention to till now.
22 December: Today's song (yes, not really a Christmas song, necessarily, but it is on Charlie Brown's Christmas movie) is in honor of the ice rink we have in our backyard, painstakingly created by Gregg over the last couple of weeks for Cal and Sam to skate on. What a dad!
23 December: Ah, Michael Bublé! Hard to have a countdown without his smooth voice! (He's been featured every year except 2021 and 2022 - what was I thinking those years?)
24 December: Merry Christmas Eve! I'm really excited about today's song because it's the one our choir will be singing in church, and I'll be singing with the choir! I've never been in the ward choir before, but last year, after hearing their Christmas program, I made a goal: sing with the choir. And now I am. It's been so fun to practice the past few months with them, even though I don't have a great or a strong voice. It reminds me of being in band, learning a new part and then hearing all the parts come together. It's just so thrilling! Our new(ish) choir director has big goals for us and we've been working on Hallelujah Chorus since October. And we can do it! We have the piano and the organ accompanying and the choir folks just sing with all their might and I just love it so much! (I've been listening and practicing at home along with this amazing practice track, so I have to include that here, too, just to remember. :) We're also singing: When Joseph Went to Bethlehem, Away in a Manger, Hush Thee My Baby, and Silent Night. It's a beautiful program, but Hallelujah is definitely the masterpiece. I can't wait!
25 December: Merry Christmas! I'm late, but squeezing it in at the last: my yearly favorite Angels We Have Heard on High. This year, it's from Bing Crosby, a la the old Reader's Digest records. I just love his Gloria! Gloria indeed!
*****************************************************
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013 (this is for December 1st - I posted each day separately back then)
2012 (this is for December 1st - I posted each day separately back then)
2011 (this is for December 1st - I posted each day separately back then)
2010 (I did a countdown on facebook, but didn't post it on the ol' blog my first year, but thanks to Sarah, she's resurrected it on youtube!)
I like the playlist link!
ReplyDeleteNo, I hadn't heard the Mamacita song before! Nor had I seen the Llamacita commercial! Fun!
ReplyDelete